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Snapshot Sep 30, 2026 · 23:16 UTC · version 1.1.2
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{
"description": "Apply when you write, change, or keep a test. Call the code the way its users do and assert the result they observe against a literal expected value. If the test would still pass when every imported function returns undefined, rewrite the assertion or delete the test.",
"included_files": [],
"name": "principle-test-behavior-not-implementation",
"skill_md_contents": "---\nname: principle-test-behavior-not-implementation\ndescription: \"Apply when you write, change, or keep a test. Call the code the way its users do and assert the result they observe against a literal expected value. If the test would still pass when every imported function returns undefined, rewrite the assertion or delete the test.\"\nuser-invocable: false\ndisable-model-invocation: true\n---\n\n# Test Behavior, Not Implementation\n\nA test calls the code the way its users do and asserts the result they observe against a literal expected value. A test that asserts which calls the code made, or restates a constant the code contains, does neither.\n\nThe check: before you keep a test, ask whether it would still pass if every function it imports returned `undefined`. If yes, it observes no behavior and cannot fail for a defect. Rewrite the assertion or delete the test.\n\n**Why:** A test that cannot fail for a defect costs CI time and review attention and catches nothing. A constant pin also fails when someone edits the constant or the prompt it restates, so it prevents that edit.\n\n**Five shapes that still pass when every imported function returns `undefined`:**\n\n- **Weak or no assertion.** No `expect`, or only `toBeDefined`, `toBeTruthy`, `not.toThrow`, `toBeInstanceOf`, `toBeGreaterThan(0)`.\n- **Mock or absence only.** Only `toHaveBeenCalled`, `not.toHaveBeenCalled`, `toBeUndefined`, `toEqual([])`, `toHaveLength(0)`, `not.toBe(wrongValue)`.\n- **Self-referential.** The expected value comes from the code under test: `expect(f(a)).toBe(f(a))`, `expect(parsed.url).toBe(buildUrl(...))`.\n- **Constant pin.** The assertion restates a hand-maintained constant, config default, table row, or prompt string: `expect(LIMITS.maxTools).toBe(8)`, `expect(PROMPT).toContain(\"You are\")`.\n- **Fixture asserts fixture.** The assertion reads data the test built or a value computed in `beforeEach`, and the subject never runs inside the body.\n\n**The fix:** call the subject inside the test body with one concrete input and assert the literal output or the observable effect, `expect(slugify(\"Hello, World!\")).toBe(\"hello-world\")`. For an absence, assert the presence on the other input in the same test. For a constant, test the mechanism that reads it with one input instead of restating the value. For a mock, assert the payload it received or the state after the call, not that it was called. When no such assertion exists, delete the test.\n\n**Keep** a test of a relation across a table's rows (a key present in two tables, a parent that exists), and a compile-time check in a `*.test-d.ts` file.\n"
}SHA-256 of public snapshot: ac84d2216cc47cde2d066455144361f2928e56eca44dda3d7242f069eabcc4a0